8 settings that every iPhone owner should now change

Your iPhone ($ 699 at Apple) is great how it comes, but you can make it even better with just a few minutes of your time. Whether you've just bought the new iPhone SE a hand-me-down iPhone XR or have been using the same iPhone for years, changing Apple's default settings can have a big impact on your overall experience of using the phone.

For example, Do Not Disturb is turned off right out of the box, which means your iPhone will beep all night, waking up light sleepers. Who wants that? Instead, a quick dip in the settings can automatically turn your phone off all night, take advantage of the dark mode to save battery and put the Control Center to work for you by changing your phone's settings.

Read on for all our tips! Note that we regularly update this article as Apple adds new features and settings. And now take a few minutes to adjust these eight settings to protect yourself from potential frustrations along the way.

Do not disturb helps you sleep better. Believe me.

Screenshots from Jason Cipriani / CNET

1. Turn on & # 39; Do Not Disturb & # 39; in

I often wonder how I slept a full night before & # 39; Do Not Disturb & # 39; was added to iOS . When enabled, Do Not Disturb mutes all alerts on your iPhone, either on a set schedule or on request. Your notifications are still waiting for you when you wake up in the morning, but by enabling DND, your phone will do no more than a beep or a ping for Facebook updates and business emails.

Don't worry If someone needs to reach you in an emergency, you can tell DND to allow repeated calls from the same number so that your phone rings. You can also decide if you always want to allow calls from contacts you've added to the favorites section in the Phone app.

2. Make text easier to read

With a few taps on your iPhone screen, you can adjust the font size for easier reading. Open the app Settings and go to Display and Brightness > Text Size and use the slider until you are satisfied with the font size.

For a little extra pizazz, you can enable Bold Text (it's just below the Text Size button).

The more fingers you add to Touch ID, the better.

Angela Lang / CNET

3. Add More Fingers to Touch ID

The iPhone SE is Apple's latest iPhone and brings back the home button with Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor. During the initial setup process, iOS guides you through adding a fingerprint, but it doesn't give you the option to add more than one. After your phone is set up, go in and register more fingerprints.

In the future, you no longer have to think about which finger unlocks or approves a purchase – it will just work.

Óscar Gutiérrez / CNET

4. Or an alternate look for Face ID

Apple & # 39; s Face Recognition feature, Face ID constantly learns and relearns different aspects of your face with each scan. But if you're struggling to get Face ID to recognize you consistently, use the alternate appearance option.

5. Turning off automatic brightness for longer battery life

The brightness level of your iPhone screen can have a big impact on battery life. By default, iOS automatically adjusts the screen brightness based on how much light the ambient sensor detects. But if you want full control, you can turn off the automatic brightness. This means that wherever you set the brightness level, it remains until you adjust it again.

Open Settings > Accessibility > Screen and text size and at the bottom of the page you will find a switch to disable Automatic brightness .

Now if you want to customize your screen, you can do this by opening Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen on a device with a home button or by swiping down from the top right corner on newer iPhones.

The dark mode on the iPhone certainly looks good.

Jason Cipriani / CNET

6. Dark mode is where it is

If you don't want to manually adjust the brightness of your screen, you can use iOS 13's special dark mode that has been proven to save battery life. Dark mode converts all white backgrounds in apps to, more often than not, a black background. In turn, your phone can save battery power thanks to the dark colors.

Enable it by going to Settings > Display & Brightness and selecting the option Dark at the top of the screen.

Not only will Apple's own apps automatically switch to a dark color scheme, but most third-party apps have also taken over the feature.

Apple has put all its privacy controls in one place.

Jason Cipriani / CNET

7. Triage Your Privacy Settings

The first time you set up a phone and all your favorite apps, you are bombarded with prompts that ask you for permission to access personal information, ranging from tracking our location to your Apple Health- information or your camera roll. It's way too easy to get into the habit of approving everything so you can use the app, but take a few minutes to go through your privacy settings and adjust what each app does and doesn't can see. We'll walk you through the process in two quick steps .

Control Center has a lot of potential, you just need to adjust it.

Jason Cipriani / CNET

8. The Control Center puts everything at your fingertips

The Control Center is a convenient place to quickly change numbers, turn on airplane mode, connect to Wi-Fi or start a timer – but there is so much more than that. You can quickly turn on your flashlight, view a timer or start recording your screen with a quick swipe and tap.

Customize which apps and features are available in Control Center by opening the Settings app and selecting Control Center followed by Customize Controls . Delete an option by tapping the red minus button or add an option by selecting the green add button. Drag functions up or down using the three-line icon on the right side of the screen.

Personally, I like to have quick access to the Wallet app, enable power saving mode and switch dark mode.

As a reminder, if you have an iPhone with a home button – like the new iPhone SE – you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the Control Center. If you have an iPhone with Face ID, such as an iPhone X ($ 900 at Sprint) XS or 11, swipe down from the top right corner of the screen where the battery icon is.

With your settings adjusted and your iPhone working better than ever familiarize yourself with the best iOS 13 that has to offer, along with some of the hidden features we & # 39; have excavated .